CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Statement of Alice M. Rivlin before the Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriation Request for Fiscal Year 1981 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to present the fiscal year 1981 appropriation request for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). CBO is a nonpartisan organization that provides the Congress with budget-related information and analyses of alternative fiscal, budgetary, and programmatic policies. CBO does not make recommendations on matters of policy; rather, we analyze budgetary options, their cost to the federal government, and their impact on the national economy. Budget Request For fiscal year 1981, I have prepared a budget request for the CBO that allows for no growth, except an inflation allowance, and no increase in the level of A-1 authorized staff. I am requesting an appropriation of $13,544,000, which is an increase over fiscal year 1980 of approximately 8 percent. This request does not contain funds for expanded responsibilities for the office. The fiscal year 1981 appropriation would simply continue CBO's current organization and services to the Congress. This statement briefly reviews for the Committee the major services CBO provided to the Congress over the past year and describes our current organization. Budgetary Estimates, Fiscal and Programmatic Analysis 1974 include CBO's responsibilities under the Congressional Budget Act of estimating the five-year costs to the federal government of proposed legislation, tracking Congressional budget action on appropriation and revenue bills against the targets or ceilings in the concurrent budget resolutions (scorekeeping), preparing periodic forecasts of economic trends and alternative fiscal policies, estimating the inflationary effect of major legislative proposals, and analyzing programmatic issues that affect the federal budget. Cost Estimates. CBO prepares cost estimates for virtually every bill reported in the House and Senate that would have a budget impact. During the first session of the 96th Congress (as of November 20, 1979), CBO prepared more than 700 bill cost estimates for House and Senate authorizing committees, about the same number as during the first session of the 95th Congress. Based on past experience, we expect to prepare close to 1,000 bill cost estimates during the second session of the 96th Congress. In addition, CBO provides the Appropriations Committees with outlay estimates for all appropriation bills. Scorekeeping. During fiscal year 1979, we issued various scorekeeping reports and tabulations for use by the Congress, particularly the Appropriations and Budget Committees. budget These included: 6 comprehensive scorekeeping reports published by CBO; information for 20 scorekeeping reports issued by the Senate Budget Committee; 42 packages of specifically designed computer runs for the House Budget Committee furnished weekly when the House was in session; O daily reports, together with weekly scorekeeping tabulations, when the Congress was in session for the Budget Committees' use in advising the current budgetary levels; о numerous computer tabulations parliamentarians on (some regular and others specifically requested) for the use of the Appropriations Committees in preparing their March 15 reports, and for the use of the Budget Committees during their consideration of the budget resolutions; and o a new automated report, which is updated weekly, on the status of selected legislative entitlement and other A-3 bills that would directly affect budgetary requirements, for the use of the Appropriations and Budget Committees. Economic Forecasts. Each fiscal year, CBO publishes two reports that examine the state of the national economy, present CBO's economic forecast, and analyze alternative fiscal policies. These reports coincide with Congressional consideration of the concurrent resolutions on the budget. The demand for these documents is great and, like all CBO publications, they are distributed to all Members of Congress. The two reports issued in fiscal year 1979 focused particularly on the problem of inflation. Inflation Analysis. CBO prepares estimates of the inflationary effect of selected major legislative proposals. The estimates are intended to provide the Congress with guidelines about the cost in terms of inflation that new programs might entail. In fiscal year 1979, inflation impact analyses were undertaken in such diverse areas as hospital cost containment, agriculture price support programs, beef import quotas, international agreements on coffee and sugar, and oil price decontrol. Program Analysis. CBO prepares reports on a wide range of programmatic issues that affect the federal budget. These studies are undertaken at the request of the chairman or ranking minority member of a full committee of jurisdiction or the chairman of a subcommittee of jurisdiction. In line with the priorities established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Budget Committees request CBO's services most frequently. |